• Re: The Marsaglia Random Number CD-ROM needed

    From Byrl Raze Buckbriar@21:1/5 to Chax Plore on Mon Sep 9 04:12:29 2024
    XPost: sci.crypt.random-numbers

    On Sun, 3 Mar 2024 19:15:27 +0100
    Chax Plore <ftilojim@tznvy.pbz> wrote:

    Good day, everyone,

    I am searching for untouched version of George Marsaglia's Diehard
    CD-ROM. By "untouched" I mean bit-identical ISO copy of original CD-ROM disc.

    Of course I found many copies of CD-ROM contents in Internet, but I also found that some of them are different between each instance - starting
    from details like different EOL format in source code files, and up to errors like some files totally omitted or being binary different from
    each other. This is too much for my OCD. I don't trust Internet copies
    I found anymore.

    I think sci.crypt is a good place to ask for potential owners of this
    disc. If it will be found, I plan to upload it to archive.org to
    preserve for eternity this undisputably important piece of computer history.

    I planned to post my request on sci.crypt.random-numbers, but it has no activity.

    More info, including photo of original disc is available at https://github.com/jeffThompson/DiehardCDROM

    With kindest regards,

    Chax Plore

    --

    -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY FINGERPRINT-----
    5745 807C 2B82 14D8 AB06 422C 8876 5DFC 2A51 778C
    ------END PGP PUBLIC KEY FINGERPRINT------

    * bump *

    Did you find your seek?

    The project was tied to the National Science Foundation under grants DMS-8807976 and DMS-9206972.

    If you pull the public grant info and contact the named authors and administrators, you might be able to get the whole food chain of everyone that contributed, then begin going down the list to contact them one-by-one.

    See NSF grant award info:

    https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=8807976&HistoricalAwards=false

    The NSF should have archived copies of the original CD-ROMs and research data. A FOIA request might help.

    Also you might check with Florida State University's research and IT departments and track down the contacts named in the grant award.

    Then there is the archived web site for the project:

    https://web.archive.org/web/20160125103112/http:/stat.fsu.edu/pub/diehard/

    --
    Byrl Raze Buckbriar . OCTADE . < https://octade.net >
    Hacker Hotline . voice & SMS . (781) OCT-AGON
    KeyOxide . < https://keyoxide.org/keyoxide0@octade.net >

    -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----

    iHUEARYIAB0WIQRneuMjkp+P7n1uq4moad1ZYOZmFwUCZt51qwAKCRCoad1ZYOZm F+KLAQD+hn5XfYiVdLzdqXgwFmQnUx5nN5yB7L87YA/WezHeegEAgL1uhdFlTE8a RlILe7yuCaL5gfDG6rlfOMVdIGRxwws=
    =cVYW
    -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Chax Plore@21:1/5 to Byrl Raze Buckbriar on Wed Sep 11 10:31:29 2024
    XPost: sci.crypt.random-numbers

    On 2024-09-09 06:12, Byrl Raze Buckbriar wrote:
    On Sun, 3 Mar 2024 19:15:27 +0100
    Chax Plore <ftilojim@tznvy.pbz> wrote:

    Good day, everyone,

    I am searching for untouched version of George Marsaglia's Diehard
    CD-ROM. By "untouched" I mean bit-identical ISO copy of original CD-ROM
    disc.
    <snip>

    * bump *

    Did you find your seek?

    The project was tied to the National Science Foundation under grants DMS-8807976 and DMS-9206972.

    If you pull the public grant info and contact the named authors and administrators, you might be able to get the whole food chain of everyone that contributed, then begin going down the list to contact them one-by-one.

    See NSF grant award info:

    https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=8807976&HistoricalAwards=false

    The NSF should have archived copies of the original CD-ROMs and research data. A FOIA request might help.

    Also you might check with Florida State University's research and IT departments and track down the contacts named in the grant award.

    Then there is the archived web site for the project:

    https://web.archive.org/web/20160125103112/http:/stat.fsu.edu/pub/diehard/

    FOIA seem to be an overkill for the task.
    Web archive of project website contains files from disc (not all of
    them) and no ISO image was provided.


    --

    -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY FINGERPRINT-----
    5745 807C 2B82 14D8 AB06 422C 8876 5DFC 2A51 778C
    ------END PGP PUBLIC KEY FINGERPRINT------

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)